Left behind? Crowded Calgary buses are leaving more riders shivering at the stop

Charmae Laurel says it was a common experience — seeing a full city bus pass her by while she waited at her stop trying to get to classes at Mount Royal University. 

On two occasions, she says, back-to-back buses passed by because they were too stuffed with passengers.

"I think it took me like two or three hours to get to school. I should have just stayed home at that point," said the recent grad.

That sort of situation is happening more often, according to data collected by Calgary Transit.

Calgary Transit calls them overloads. That's when the bus is so full, the driver can't pick up new passengers at a stop because it's unsafe to bring more people on. 

Bus drivers reported that has happened 361 times already this year, between Jan. 1 and Nov. 26, up from 266 times in 2023. 

Transit data, obtained through a freedom of information request, shows that bus riders were passed at stops 116 times in 2022, which was before ridership had fully rebounded post-pandemic. Calgary Transit did not keep such data before 2022.

Laurel says it happened to her a lot on the Max Yellow route near Mount Royal University. 

"It's defeating because I'm already busy with school and I have limited free time."

The union and transit officials disagree on the numbers. The official data comes from bus drivers who record each bus overload in real time as they drive their routes. 

But Mike Mahar, union president with ATU Local 583, says these pass-bys frequently go unreported by drivers, and operators are left dealing with the skipped riders' frustrations. 

"I would say the vast, vast majority of operators don't push that button at some point just because it just becomes redundant, it just has no meaning," Mahar said.

Mahar says his comment is based on one-on-one discussions over the years, not data. And he sees it as a big problem.

"[Drivers are dealing with] frustrations like crazy, and then people will complain and the bus driver gets called in to the company to have a discussion on why they've had a negative interaction with the customer and it just compounds again."